noob first build

konky

konky

konky

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Joined
25 Aug 2008
Posts
16
Hi
First i would like to introduce myself to this forum. I am the current owner of an ageing Celeron 2.4 PC which has served me faithfully for the past 5 years. It is now on its last legs having replaced every part of it except for the cables. I am now looking to build my first PC from scratch with a little help from you guys or should i say lots of help from you guys. I am looking to build a complete system tower,monitor,O.S,keyboard and mouse. The system will be used mainly for encoding, video editing,browsing and being used as a stereo for my sounds and loads of multi-tasking. I would like a very quiet system which will last me for at least 5 yrs. I dont need a top range gfx card as it wont be used for gaming i would like a good sound system. Monitor i was thinking 20 or a 22 inch, keyboard and mouse i would like corded. I would like 2 DVD writers preferably 2 different makes as i get some funny media that will read in 1 DVD but not the other or vice versa. I also would like space for a card reader and blue ray drive in the future. Overclocking i have no experience of,or dont know if i need it i was thinking of (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-101-OK) can you overclock with this guide if you were using 4 gig memory (do i need 4 gig?) What O.S do i use do i stick with XP or go with Vista. Last but not least i have about £950 budget give or take a few quid

Thanx in advance
Konky
 
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When I saw this thread I thought this would be fairly simple, how wrong I was :p due to the fact you want a good sound system, a large monitor (no point in 20" so went for a 22") and the fact you really need 4gb ram and a quad core for video editing and encoding.

However here is my attempt:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 - £117.49
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 - £61.09
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) - £93.99
Gainward ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB - £58.74
Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card - £111.61
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 550W ATX2.2 Modular PSU - £82.24
Samsung SpinPoint F1 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - £58.74
Lian Li PC-A07B Aluminium Midi-Tower - £68.14
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter - £15.26
LiteON LH-20A1L-14C 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe - £19.96

Peripherals:
Microsoft Black Value Pack 2.0 - OEM (Wired mouse+keyboard) - £16.44
Creative Inspire T6100 5.1 Speakers - OEM - £36.41
Dell SP2208WFP 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - £211.49

Total inc.VAT and delivery:£985.07

There are some components which money could be saved on but as you said you want it to last five years then I'd recommend maybe spending that tiny bit more on quality components that will last. Nevertheless below are the parts you could save money on if your insistent:

Motherboard - (Often overlooked but an essential part, especially if you have any intention of even trying overclocking. The P5Q isn't particularly cheap but it offer amazing value for its features+performance and comes recommended by a good number of these forums)

PSU - (I've selected a modular PSU but you could save around £20-30 by going non modular. Modular basically improves cable management as you only plug into the psu the cables you need as opposed to having a lot of unused cables hanging loosely in your case)

GFX - (You could opt for no gfx card entirely however I'd not recommend it. Even if you have no intention of gaming, having a dedicated card will still have numerous benefits)

Sound card - (There are cheaper cards but you said you wanted a good sound system hence why I opted for a pretty good one, but tbh even that isn't good enough if your intending on going into production. My friend and I are starting producing our own stuff and between us just on a keyboard, software and an external sound card we've forked out over 2k - so sound can get expensive)

Hope I've been some help buddy :)
 
Thanx for the reply looks impressive what else would i need to add to this apart from
Vista Home Basic SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66G-02141)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
 
being as you said you wanted a quiet system i would add an aftermarket cpu cooler to the list, didn't see one on Alex's spec.

depending on how much graphical effort the system will do might be worth looking at something like the Asus ATI Radeon EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M HD 3650 Vcool Silent 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI.
 
thanx for the replys
was looking at the coolers and saw this one it sounds a bit cheap but has got good reviews
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-026-AR
as for GFX i cant decide between
Gainward ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB
and
Asus ATI Radeon EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M HD 3650 Vcool Silent 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI.

They are both similarly priced but the Asus one seems to have more functions is this a good thing or not?
 
only thing left to decide now is gfx what do i go for

Gainward ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB
or
Asus ATI Radeon EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M HD 3650 Vcool Silent 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI.
 
And change those speakers!

£100+ on a sound card and sub £40 speaker system :eek:

Get a cheaper sound card (Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (30SB073000002) - 52.86 inc. VAT) and either Logitech G51 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System (980-000116) or Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers - OEM (51MF7020AA007)
 
ok so my set up looks like this now

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 - £117.49
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 - £61.09
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) - £93.99
Asus ATI Radeon EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M HD 3650 Vcool Silent 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI. - £56.39
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (30SB073000002) - £52.86
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 550W ATX2.2 Modular PSU - £82.24
Samsung SpinPoint F1 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - £58.74
Lian Li PC-A07B Aluminium Midi-Tower - £68.14
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter - £15.26
LiteON LH-20A1L-14C 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe - £19.96
Microsoft Black Value Pack 2.0 - OEM (Wired mouse+keyboard) - £16.44
Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers - OEM (51MF7020AA007) - £62.26
Dell SP2208WFP 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - £211.49
Vista Home Basic SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66G-02141) - £58.74
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) - £4.69
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) - £17.61

does anyone see any probs with this set up
 
swap the sound card for the Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card.

i'd probably go for the Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System.
 
ok so now looking at this does anyone see any problems with this set up

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 - £117.49
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 - £61.09
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) - £93.99
Asus ATI Radeon EAH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M HD 3650 Vcool Silent 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI. - £56.39
Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card (Low Profile Compatible) - £54.04
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 550W ATX2.2 Modular PSU - £82.24
Samsung SpinPoint F1 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - £58.74
Lian Li PC-A07B Aluminium Midi-Tower - £68.14
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter - £15.26
LiteON LH-20A1L-14C 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe - £19.96
Microsoft Black Value Pack 2.0 - OEM (Wired mouse+keyboard) - £16.44
Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System (970243-0120) - £64.61
Dell SP2208WFP 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - £211.49
Vista Home Basic SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66G-02141) - £58.74
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) - £4.69
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) - £17.61

thanx for all the input guys
 
Do you really need to spend £150 on a case/psu?

You can buy a cheap naff case for ~£20ish, and the noise wouldnt be that much less than the above with a "be quiet" psu...

Try googling the db of various psu's to see the difference...
 
Samsung SpinPoint F1 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - £58.74 (not in stock)
will this one be ok as an alternative
Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD753LJ)
 
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